Dollar General: MILFORD – At its Feb. 26 meeting the planning board continued its review of a proposed Dollar General store on Wilton Road, until March 26, when the public is invited to comment and ask questions.

After a long discussion about potential regional impacts, board members decided unanimously that the store could have an impact on roads and water, which means officials from Wilton and the Nashua Regional Planning Commission will be invited to join the review process.

The board is also planning a site visit on Thursday, March 14 at 4:30 p.m. and the public is invited to join them, although there will be no discussion or decisions made at that date.

The 9,300 square foot discount store would be in a field across and diagonal to the Pine Valley Mill apartments and west of the new self-storage units.

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Library parking

MILFORD – Library officials updated their building project plans for selectmen last week, and board members used it as an opportunity to clarify Wadleigh Memorial’s Library’s parking-only-for-library-patrons policy.

People have been saying the threat of towing that’s stated on signs in the parking lot is not enforced, said selectmen. Trustees told them the staff does not have time to enforce the ban consistently, but “if you see the lot is full, or almost full, you’re taking a chance,” said library Director Betsy Solon.

Trustees have produced a map of downtown parking spaces, and Chairwoman Judy Gross said there are lots of spaces not too far away from the Oval. “We want to invited the public to get a little more exercise,” she said.

When she worked on Milford’s Main Street project, she said, they found a major cause of parking problems is merchants parking in front of their own businesses.

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State budget

MILFORD – One of the three New Hampshire House of Representative public hearings for the state budget will be held at the Boys & Girls Club’s Amato Center on Monday, March 11. The House finance committee will split and hold one hearing in northern N.H. (Laconia) and one hearing in Milford. The hearings will begin at 5 p.m. There will be an additional hearing in Concord, in Representatives Hall, on March 18.

The budget includes details of state agency appropriations for the two-year legislative term, along with key strategic initiatives, and the hearings will allow citizens to share their priorities with finance committee members who determine key state funding decisions.

Adds up?

MILFORD – The school board voted recently to allow Milford High School to have a video production course as one of its mathematics requirements. New state standards increased math course requirements from three to four, but one of the courses can be a non-math course “in which mathematic knowledge and skills are embedded and applied.”

The board approved the program 4-1 at its Feb. 18 meeting, with Bob Willette dissenting. Schools Superintendent Jessica Huizenga told the board video production requires a lot of basic math skills for timing, cutting and editing, but Willette said he isn’t convinced that video production fulfills the math requirement.

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Phone scams

CONCORD – Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald is urging residents to protect themselves from IRS-related scams that tend to increase during tax season. In 2017, the attorney general’s office received 471 reports related to IRS scams. In 2018, there were 984 such reports. The most common reports are for unsolicited calls claiming to be from the IRS and demanding payment for delinquent taxes. The callers typically ask for some sort of immediate payment and threaten arrest, wage garnishment or other forms of legal process to coerce the payment.

The IRS continues to caution taxpayers that, with very few exceptions, their first contact with a delinquent taxpayer will not be a phone call but will be in the form of a letter from the IRS sent through the mail. The IRS also does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information.

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Adaptive LAX

MILFORD – This spring New Hampshire Youth Lacrosse Association and Souhegan Valley Lacrosse will begin an adaptive lacrosse program with three teams, one of those teams in Milford. The co-ed program is open to players 10-21 years old and their equipment, uniform, coaching and volunteers will be provided. The only cost to participants will be to register with USLacrosse as required for all players within the NHYLA organization. The new program is designed to celebrate inclusion and opportunity for all our athletes and welcomes kids with sensory issues who are uncomfortable with protective equipment. For questions about the new program contact Carla Boudreau, 930-9474 , carla.boundreau@comcast.net; Mike Hannon, 204-0431, president of SVL; or Wayne Demers, NHYLA board member, wdemers@comcast.net.

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Spring forward

Daylight Saving Time starts Sunday, March 10, at 2 a.m. when the clocks in Eastern time zones will be set ahead one hour. Every state participates except Arizona, where most of the state stays on Mountain Time, and Hawaii, as well as the country’s external territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. Since most people will “lose” an hour of sleep, fatigue induced by the clock change is thought to be the main cause of an increase in traffic accidents on the Monday following the start of DST. Studies also show there are more heart attacks because of disruptions in people’s circadian rhythms caused by the time change.

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Gas line extension?

MILFORD – Liberty Utilities will host a meeting on Tuesday, March 19 to discuss the possibility of bringing natural gas into the Webster and Prospect street neighborhoods with a gas main extension.

The meeting will take place in Milford Town Hall Auditorium at 5:30 p.m. The utility recommends at least one person from each household attend. They will pass out information regarding rebates, financing, contractor selection and more. For more information, contact business and community development manager Suzanne Pacheco at 782-2334, or at Suzanne.Pacheco@libertyutilities.com.